Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-27
THE CHINESE EMPIRE.
The FHormous Extent and Resources OF the
Most PopuIous Country on the Gtubo.

Most PopulOus Country on the GIobo.
Facing Us across the Pacific ocean R7C
the most puDulOus and densel7 settled
countries Of the world, says the San Fran
cisco Chronicle. On the broad GlluVIa
plains, on the elevated piatesUE, in the
wide fertile valleys and on the slcpina
hill and mountain sides OF Eastern asia
zoe, 600, 600 peOple-oDe-haN Of tins
worlds pOnula,IOr-are Engaged II every
branch Of human industry. These busy
| human hives are our nearest transmerlne
neighbors, and If we are to have foreign
commerce il must largely be with these
/ Oriental countries.
J Already thejr foreign trade amounts
annually TO 81 COO 900, 600 and tits rapidly
Z increasing. From every commercial cen
: ter of Europe lines of steamships and
| fleets Of sailing vessels plow the SECS ia
! this rich Oriental carrying. The immense
area of these AsiatiC countries, the Geusi-
! ty of their population, the vast amount Of
/ their developed wealth, the untlring in
! dustry Of their workers, the unexceIled
! fertility eff their soils, end their unrivaled
/ facilities for internal and external COM
! merCe mark them as subjec.s of surp2ss-
! ing interest to Us. or these Oriental
countries, Chine hGa the largest area ana
population, and tie greatest latent de
veloped wealth
Since the r9COnqaest and reOCCupatiOR
of Kashgaria her area is $500, goo square
miles. This is one and One-hslf times
! the area Of 81 Europe or our own coun-
! try, including Alaska. This is the largest
area on earth under one government,
with homogeneous people speaking one
tongue. This area extends north and
south through thirty-fve parallels of lati-
tude, and east and west through 90 Of
| longitude. In this immense area there is
almost every climate condition-from the
snow fields bordering on Siberia, where
the finest fur-bearing animals live,
to the tropical plains Of the
southeast, where the banana and date
palms, the mango, the msgnOstina, and
the bread-fruit tree flourish Il en-
braces every Typographical feature; S
long ocean line, indented by CULTS, bays,
inlets and bold prOmontories; fertile
plains, stretching as far as the eye can
reach; elevated tablelands, deep and
wide valleys, intra-mountain basins
higher than the loftieSt peaks of the
Rocky mountains, aud great mountain
rGr ges whose average elevations would
look down upon Hood, SGaster and Lin
uCln. The river systems are as remark
able as the mountains. In Ger
traI China there are two great
river systems-tEe Hwang HO and
the Yangtz, which, with their tributaries,
furnish inland transportation to country
nearly SIS large IS all Europe Both OF
the Sc rivers rise on the great plateau OF
Tibet, the Hottest teb!elands of tec
world and breaking through The Kweniuu
range, hOw east to the Pacific ocean. The
TGug'z is one CT the great rivers OF the
world. To Hang Chow, in the center Of
the tee districts, ii is navigEblG for the
largest ocean steamships; and to Itchang,
At the foot of the kwen'un mountains,
2000 miles from the sea, it is nav.gable
for large, but light draft steamers.
These river systems, and the facilities
for infertrade au travel which they pre-
sent, have produced the prosperity Of
that country, the homogeneous character
OF the people, and their long continued
political unity. On the south the Hong
81 Kiang and Cambodia furnish transpor-
talon TO 8 large area. On the north the
Liau, Congevee and Amoor are navigable
for small vessels for q considerable dis
lance from the ocean. Supple
mentIng these great rivers, there are
systems of Canels unequaled in the
world. The Imperial canal extends from
near Picking, ip the north, TO Son Cow,
| 700 miles TO the south. This was ship
csnsI. and crossed the great Hwang H0
and Yangtz rivers. Connecting with this
parent canal, the rivers and the ocean,
/ there are networks OF smaller canals, Gov
ering vast are& OF low lying plains. In
some pisces on these plains the ca ais
are not more than two or three miles
! apart. As these are tidal canals, they
! furnish cheap aud rapid transportation.
The climate of most OF this vast area,
especially south of the 3Sth parallel, is
most favorable. From the Northern rim
! Of the YangtZ basin, south OF the latitude
Of Canton, the climate is semi-tropical,
and from Canton to Tonquin it is sropi-
cal At Peking, 40 north latitude, the
mean annual temperature is 80 Faraen-
heit: winter, 29; spring, $50; summer,
! IS; autumn, 81 At Shsrghai, 81 north,
/ the mean is 81 . At Canton, % north,
! the mean is 10.
These are the temperatures of the sea
| level, and, IS the country rises toward
the great mountains, cooler climates are
! found. But even on the Thibetan mount
aims, at az elevation of To- 900 feet, bar
| ley and nutritious grasses are found.
This greater variety of climate gives s
wonderful diversity OF plant life. On the
! south there is almost every variety of
| tropical growths; in the central reaiGBs
| the semi-tropical plants, both textile and
| food, grow luxuriantly, and in the north
and on the higher elevations to the west
the staple crops are wheat and millet. 10
the higher mountain ranges are immense
| forest belts.
The population OF China has been 8
matter of discussion and doubt among
! foreigners. II has been claimed that the
! figures Of the Chinese census are much
too high. There is, however, no known
reason why the officials of that country
should eXaggerate their population.
There is no dfsputiug the fact that the
means existing there for arriving at on
accurate census are most ample Every
house must have list of its inmates
hung ST it's door, and a violation of this
is visited with punishment. The imperial
and local taxes are based III part upon
the numbers of the people The
most difficult task imposed upon
the provincial rulers is the furnish
| ing of the amounts of money demanded
| by the imperial government, and aDy eX-
cessive census return would only increase
that difficulty. It is only fair pre-
sumption that if the census returns are
incorrect that they are too small rather
than too large.
The census of 1875 gave the population
of the empire at 495, 100000. Since tnat
time Tonquin has been lost, with several
million people, and Kashgaria has been
reconquered. Among no people with any